Can't let THIS guy win

Hi Global Recap readers,

We all knew that this would happen.

• Despite President Trump’s efforts to pressure other nations into honoring their ceasefire commitments by publicly showcasing the signing process, it would be difficult to enforce the agreement if those nations simply chose not to comply.

• And this weekend, it seems they all decided at once to go against it.

 ANNOUNCEMENT
Can’t Let This Guy Win

It’s been a while since I last said that, right after waking up one morning to find our Spotify page suddenly flooded with one-star reviews from Russian bot farms.

But here’s where they failed: 

I am crazy. It only pumped me up even more.

• If they’re working this hard to tear us down, it means the truth we’re telling about their regime matters. It means we hit a nerve and that excites me.

• And so many of you have stepped up lately—subscribing, listening, sharing, and pushing back just by showing up. To all of you crazy ones, thank you.

• Because if we let a bot attack take us down, we’re basically telling them their tactics work. And that would only encourage more attempts to silence channels like ours.

We can’t let them dictate the narrative. No more dictating.

If you haven’t already, subscribe on Spotify and leave a review! It genuinely helps us push back, grow stronger, and keep the truth louder than their bots.

🇮🇱 ISRAEL
UNRWA Compound
"Raided" In Jerusalem

Jerusalem municipal tax officials, accompanied by police, entered a UNRWA compound in East Jerusalem on Monday in what they called a tax-collection operation, seizing equipment and hoisting an Israeli flag on the roof. UNRWA has not used the building since Israel banned its operations there.

• Raid: Jerusalem municipal officials arrived with police, trucks, and forklifts at a United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) compound in East Jerusalem, cut communications, removed furniture and tech equipment, and replaced the UN flag with an Israeli one.

• Debt: The city says this was a routine tax collection action, claiming UNRWA has about $3.4 million in unpaid property taxes and that repeated notices were ignored. UNRWA disputes that it owes any such debt.

But wait, isn't the U.N. tax exempt?

• Void: Municipal officials argue the compound lost its tax exemption after Israel banned UNRWA from operating in Israeli territory, including East Jerusalem, and say that exemption is granted (and can be withdrawn) by the host state.

• Immunity: UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini calls the move illegal, pointing to the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations, which says UN premises are inviolable and UN property is immune from legal process, including searches and seizures.

Contradiction

Above are the details of this news, and here’s where I need to interject to provide more context.

• Pressure: Since accusing UNRWA of being heavily infiltrated by Hamas after the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks, Israel has sought to sideline and eventually replace the agency. The U.S. and several other major donors temporarily paused additional funding to UNRWA while investigating those allegations, though not all previously allocated funds were affected.

• Evidence: Many news reports and commentators argue that Israel’s actions are unjustified, often claiming that Israel has "not provided evidence behind its claim" that UNRWA is infiltrated by Hamas, even though Israel shared an intelligence dossier with governments and the UN.

  • Also, here’s an official Israeli government site that lays out Israel’s claims and presents evidence (summaries, images and descriptions) of alleged links between UNRWA staff and Hamas:

Now, refuting those claims and evidence, and criticizing the state of Israel for its actions during the war, are one thing, but saying that Israel has not "produced any evidence" is a misrepresentation. I am not sure whether this is conscious bias or not, but it’s hard to ignore what seems like the writers’ active involvement in misrepresenting reality.

🇺🇳 UNITED NATIONS
UN Slashes
2026 Aid

Speaking of the U.N.: the United Nations has just halved its emergency aid appeal for 2026 after a year in which donations from the U.S. and Europe fell off a cliff. Instead of trying to help a far larger share of people in crisis, the U.N. is now openly deciding who gets life support and who gets told to hang on.

• Scale: For 2026, the U.N. is prioritizing a $23 billion appeal to reach 87 million people, even though the formal plan on paper is 33 billion dollars for 135 million people caught in wars or disasters. The smaller number is the one officials think they might actually scrape together, based on how badly 2025 went.

• Shortfall: In 2025, the humanitarian office opened with a $47 billion target, cut it midyear to $29 billion, and still has only $12 billion in the bank. That experience convinced Tom Fletcher, the U.N. humanitarian chief, that chasing the full $33 billion next year would be fantasy budgeting.

• Donors: The Trump administration has questioned the value of the U.N., pulled the U.S. out of several U.N. agencies, clawed back about 1 billion dollars in funding, and told Congress it plans to cut another 1 billion. Several European governments, including the U.K., the Netherlands, and Sweden, have also trimmed aid to focus more on defense and domestic spending.

• Impact: Fletcher says agencies are "under attack" and forced into "excruciating life-and-death choices." Food programs were cut even as parts of Sudan and Gaza tipped into famine, more than 150 health facilities in Somalia shut, and in Afghanistan the U.N. expects to keep only about 1 million people supported through winter, down from over 5 million in 2024.

• Reboot: And here’s where things get really murky. Donors are also tired of the U.N. bureaucracy, where multiple agencies pitch overlapping appeals. On top of Fletcher’s humanitarian plan, the refugee agency wants $8 billion for 2026, the Food and Agriculture Organization is chasing $2 billion for food security, and yet another call is coming for the Central Emergency Response Fund.

 🇰🇭🇹🇭 CAMBODIA & THAILAND
Border Airstrikes Return

In what seems like terrible news for President Trump’s image as the “peace president,” Thailand’s fighter jets have just struck Cambodian positions after a six-week calm, with both sides accusing the other of breaking a peace deal Trump once touted. Early reports confirm at least five deaths, including civilians, as the fragile calm collapses into fresh airstrikes.

• Trigger: Thai officials said Cambodia had shifted heavy weapons and combat units near the frontier, which they argued justified the use of air power.

• Counterclaim: Cambodia rejected that view and said Thailand had carried out days of provocative actions before launching strikes in Preah Vihear province.

• Casualties: Thai forces reported one soldier killed and seven wounded. Cambodian officials said four civilians died and many families fled their homes.

• Politics: Trump had celebrated the October ceasefire signed in Kuala Lumpur as proof of his peacemaker credentials, yet the agreement faltered weeks after he left the region.

• Standoff: Thai PM Anutin Charnvirakul announced that negotiations were over and said Cambodia must accept Thailand’s conditions if it wants the fighting to stop.

🇨🇩 DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO
Peace Deal Shaken
By Bloodshed

In the border town of Sange in South Kivu, a bomb blast killed more than 30 people and wounded about 20 after Congolese soldiers and allied militiamen turned their guns on each other. The attack hit days after leaders from Congo and Rwanda signed a U.S. brokered peace deal in Washington that was sold as a historic step toward ending the war with the Rwanda backed M23 in eastern Congo.

• Blast: On Sunday evening in Sange, a trading town near the Burundi border, residents say a single explosion ripped through a crowded area in central Sange after clashes, killing more than 30 people and injuring about 20.

• Clash: According to local civil society leaders, soldiers from the Congolese army (FARDC), were returning from the front and were ordered to stop their advance toward Uvira, some refused, shooting erupted between them and the pro-government Wazalendo militia, and then the bomb went off in the middle of town.

• Toll: Witnesses report many bodies in the center of Sange and say that at least two FARDC soldiers were later killed in separate clashes east of the town. Many residents have fled, mainly toward neighboring Burundi.

• Accusations: In a speech to parliament, Tshisekedi accused Rwanda of breaking that fresh accord and organizing the "plundering" of Congo's minerals, while Burundi's foreign minister Edouard Bizimana said Kigali was playing a "double game" and using kamikaze drones against civilians, all in a region where more than 100 armed groups operate and over 7 million people are already displaced.